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^°-^ IRISH COLONISTS 

IN NEW YORK 



A Lecture Delivered Before Tke New York 

State Historical Association at 

Lake George New York 

August 22nd, 1906 



By MICHAEL J. O'BRIEN 




PUBLISHED BY 



itir &l?amrork Sllrrarj} »Prirtg of Nrtu fork 



4- 




JAMES DUANE, 
First Mayor of the City of New York after the Revolution. Son of 
Anthony Duane, of Cong, County Galway. Born, 1733. Died, 1797. 



IRISH COLONISTS 

IN NEW YORK 

1. THE IRISH ELEMENT IGNORED - PIONEERS OF 
ALBANY COUNTY. 



Students of the Colonial records will not 
have to travel far before they find justifica- 
tion for the statement of Ramsay, the his- 
torian of North Carolina, when he wrote in 
1789 that: 

"The Colonies which now form the Unit- 
ed States may be considered as Europe 
transplanted. Ireland, England, Scotland, 
France, Germany, Holland, Switzerland, 
Sweden, Poland and Italy furnished the 
original stock of the present population, and 
are generally supposed to have contributed to 
it in the order named. For the last seventy 
or eighty years no nation has contributed 
nearly so much to the population of Amer- 
ica as Ireland." 

While it is generally conceded that Irish 
immigrants played an important role in the 
upbuilding of the American Republic, there 
has been, somehow, a notable paucity of 
recognition of their splendid services on the 
part of the historians. Whatever honors they 
received were given grudgingly, many writ- 
ers giving merely a passing reference to their 
unselfish patriotism, and, when others cov- 
ered themselves with vicarious glory, it 
pleased the average writer of history to let 
the Irishman remain in partial oblivion. 

But the tide has turned. When this schol- 
arly body has tendered to me the invitation 
to speak on the subject of "Irishmen in the 
Colony of New York." I feel as though the 
men of my race have at last received the 
recognition denied them by the early his- 
torians. The development was tardy, but 
is none the less appreciative. 

Although it does not appear that Irish im- 
migrants settled in the Province of New 
York as early as in other sections of the 
country yet, as far back as the middle of 
the seventeenth century, we find Irish names 
mentioned frequently in the records of this 
colony. The great exodus from Ireland dur- 
ing the Cromwellian period steered its course 
either in the direction of New England or 
the Plantations of the Carolinas and Vir- 
ginia, rather than to New York. Philadel- 
phia was at that time the great port of 
entry. New York had not then attained the 



pre-eminence it now enjoys, though the 
Irish exodus has considerably diminished, 
thanks to the efforts of Dr. Douglas Hyde 
and the Gaelic League. 

In the pages of early American history 
are many interesting sidelights relating to 
the standing of Irishmen, not alone in the 
centres of colonial life and activity along 
the Atlantic Coast, but out along the bor- 
ders of the forest, in the wild and unculti- 
vated tracts of country where their implac- 
able enemy was the ruthless redskin. 

Everywhere do we come across them in 
the early records. In the cities, merchants, 
professional men and gentlemen of fortune ; 
in the open country, farmers, laborers, arti- 
sans, Indian traders and schoolmasters, all 
engaged in the same work, advance agents 
in the march of civilization. Only a 
few, comparatively, are mentioned in offi- 
cial records. These were the men who, by 
their indomitable pluck and energy, demol- 
ished the barriers of prejudice and bigotry, 
and rose above the mass prosperous and tri- 
umphant to take the place to which they 
were entitled in the affairs of the day. It 
would add considerably to the sum of hu- 
man knowledge if we could trace the careers 
of these humble but patriotic citizens, but 
we shall be debarred from its enjoyment 
until some qualified historian shall arise who 
will undertake the task. 

To present a really comprehensive account 
of the great transatlantic migration which 
set out from Ireland during the Cromwel- 
lian period would need the substance of 
many volumes. In the space allotted to 
me, therefore, I shall simply skim over the 
surface, and by the aid of qualified authori- 
ites endeavor to indicate the proportion of 
this Irish immigration which settled in the 
Province of New York, the character of the 
prominent settlers written down in the early 
records and the localities which principally 
profited by the settlements which they 
founded. 

The first mention of an Irishman in the 
colony of New York is that of a sailor 
named Coleman, who was killed by Indians 



in 1609 at Sandy Hook. O'Callaghan in his 
"Documentary History of New York," states 
that this place "was formerly called Cole- 
man's Point in commemoration of the Irish 
sailor." In the same historical work are 
found men named Gill, Barrett and Ferris, 
"settlers and Indian fighters in New Nether- 
land in 1657," and, in 1673, Patrick Dow- 
dall, John Fitzgerald, Benjamin Cooley, 
Thomas Basset, L. Collins and Thomas 
"Guinn" (Quinn) were enrolled in the 
militia. In 1674 John Cooley was a wit- 
ness on the trial of a Captain Manning in 
New York. 

In O'Callaghan's "Register of New Neth- 
erland" we find in a list of physicians in New 
York City in 1647 the name of Dr. William 
Hayes, formerly of Barry's Court, Ireland. 
A Dr. Hughes was also a surgeon in New 
Netherland in 1657, Richard Gibbons and 
John iMorris are mentioned as magistrates ai 
Gravesend in 1651 and 1653; John Coch- 
rance as overseer in 1663 ,and John Moore 
in 1652. 

Captain Christopher Goi¥e, of the ship 
Catherine, was made prisoner in New York 
in 1690 for speaking seditiously of the Eng- 
lish Governor. 

According to Brodhead, Captain Daniel 
Patrick was the first white settler in Green- 
wich, Conn. He had come from Boston with 
forty men to assist the Connecticut troops 
in the war with the Pequot Indians. In 1639 
he and one Robert Feake established a settle- 
ment on what is now Greenwich, which 
was then portion of the Colony of New 
York. Governor Peter Stuyvesant granted 
him town rights in that year. His name is 
said to have been originally Gilpatrick, which 
is an Anglicized form of the old Irish clan 
name, Mac Giolla Patrick. 

In the "Census of the City of New York 
of the Year 1703," appear such names as 
Mooney, Dooley, Walsh, Carroll, Dauly 
(Daly?), Corbett, Coleman, Curre, Kenne, 
Gillen, CoUum, (McCollum), Morrayn, Mun- 
vill, Gurney, Mogan (McGann), Buckley, 
Jordan, Hardin, Waters, a Dr. Defany and 
many others common to Irish nomenclature. 
Thirty years after that date are found, in 
addition to those mentioned, such names as 
McLennon, Lynch, Raftry, Sutton, Hanlon, 
Quealie, Ray, Darcy, "Dwire," Blake and 
Devoe, as well as Clarkes, Whites and 
Brownes, whose Christian names clearly in- 
dicate their Irish origin. These names were 
among others signed to a petition to the 
Governor, dated September 23, 1737, de- 
manding the removal of the Sheriff of New 
York. 

In the muster rolls of the militia of the 
City of New York in the year 1737, are 



•enumerated such Irish names as Welsh, Mc- 
Dowell, Ryan, Baldwin, Mooney, Hayes, 
Dorlon, Manning, "Murfey," Lowry, Magee, 
Killey, Gill, Sutton, Farley, Sullivan, Mc- 
Mullen, Ray, Hanley, O'Brien, Cansaly and 
Morgan. There are also Smiths and Browns 
and such like names, some of whom bore 
Irish Christian names. 

Andrew Meade, a native of Kerry, settled 
early in New York, but subsequently re- 
moved to Virginia, where he died in 1745- 
He was the father of Colonel Richard K. 
Meade, an aid-de-camp of Washington, and 
was the grandfather of Bishop William 
Meade, of the Protestant Episcopal Church 
of Virginia. 

One would scarcely expect to find an Irish- 
man in the old Dutch settlement of Bever- 
wyck as early as the year 1645. The first 
Dutchmen were very jealous of their prof- 
itable trade relations with the Indians. They 
were a very exclusive set, who drew entirely 
within themselves when a stranger ventured 
within their gates. One Irishman, however, 
seems to have burrowed his way into their 
affections. His name was John Anderson 
from Dublin, and it is curious to fi.nd that 
every mention of this old pioneer in the 
early records is accompanied by the 
description "the Irishman." He is men- 
tioned in the old Dutch records as 
"Jan Andriessen de lersman van Dub- 
lingh," and as an instance of his popularity 
among his neighbors he is affectionately re- 
ferred to as "Jantie" or "Jantien," meaning 
"Johnnie" or "little Johnnie." He bought 
considerable land at Albany and Catskill. 
He died at Albany in 1664. 

John Connell was a soldier in Albany in 
1666. He married and bought property 
there, and in 1670 is recorded as selling his 
house to one Stuart. Thomas Powel, an 
Irishman, was a baker in Albany from 1656 
to 167 1. Anna Daly married Everardus Bo- 
gardus, grandson of the celebrated Anneke 
Janse Bogardus, on December 4, i67S- 
James Larkin was in Governor Don- 
gan's employ in 1687 as "keeper of the 
granary," and in the same year his country- 
man, William Shaw, was surveyor of cus- 
toms in Albany, and was later appointed 
by Dongan sheriff of the county. William 
Hogan was in Albany in 1692, where he is 
described as "Willem Hogen van Bor in 
Yrlandt in de Kings County." Hjs name is 
on a list of jurymen who in 1703 tried 
his countryman, "Johnnie" Finn, in an ac- 
tion for recovery of rent. This Finn is de- 
scribed in some of the old Dutch records 
in this wise: "Jan Fyne (also as "Johannes 
Fine"), cooper, van Waterfort in Irlandt." 

From 1693 to i743 the names of many of 



the descendants of the pioneer, William 
tfogan, appear in the baptisimal records of 
the Dutch Reformed Church, although the 
name is spelled ''Hoogen," "Hoggen," and 
"Hoghing.". Robert Barrett was in 1699 
appointed a night watchman for the city, 
and in the following year Edward Cor- 
bett and Robert Barrett received licenses as 
city carters. In 1701, Nicholas Blake was 
elected a city constable. Lieutenant John 
Collins was a lawyer in Albany in 1703, and 
his son vas Mayor in 17 33' and recorder 
of the city in 1746. Patrick Martin married 
Mary Cox at Albany on March 15, 1707- 

In a list of Freeholders of the City of 
Albany in 1720 the names of William Hogan, 
Daniel Kelley and John Collins appear, and 
seven years later the list contains the names 
of William Hogan, Jr., Edward Collins, 
Michael Bassett, and John Hogan. In 1755, 
Philip Mullen was fire master of the city, 
and Philip Ryley had the important post of 
winder of the town clock. John McDuffie 
was sheriff of the county and superintend- 
ent of State prisons in 1765. Mrs. Grant, 
in her Memoirs of an American Lady, men- 
tions "a handsome, good-natured looking 
Irishman in a ragged Provincial uniform," 
named Patrick Coonie, who, with his wife 
and children, settled near Albany in 1768. 
The name of McCarthy is met with very 
frequently in these old records. Patrick, 
John and Dennis McCarthy were among the 
earliest of the family, having been in Albany 
between 1736 and 1748. 

David McCarthy, a native of Cork, men- 
tioned as very active in Albany's Commit- 
tee of Safety, was a Revolutionary soldier, 
and at the time of his death was a General 
of militia. On May 6, 1771, he married a 
granddaughter of Peter Coeymans, the foun- 
der of an old Dutch family, and thereby 
became possessed of much land in the Coey- 
man's Patent. He is said to have been a 
man of ability and influence and respected 
by the entire community. He was a mem- 
ber of the State Legislature in 1792, and 
in 1804 became county judge. His son, John 
B. McCarthy was State Senator in 1826, and 
later, like his father, county judge. 

Other McCarthy's also settled in Albany 
County, two of whom, daughters of Captain 
John McCarthy, of New London, married 
into the celebrated Van Rensselaer family. 
Hugh Mitchel was one of the ''Commission- 
ers of Conspiracies" formed in Albany dur- 
ing the Revolution. Hugh Dennison was a 
prominent resident of Albany, where he is 
referred to as "a true Irishman." For many 
years he conducted the only first-class 
hotel tliere, which became a place of meeting 
for the liberty-loving citizens of Albany. 



Washington was a guest of his hotel in 1782 
and 1783, and was there presented with the 
freedom of the city. 

In Pearson's "Genealogies of the First Set- 
tlers of the Ancient County of Albany from 
1630 to 1800," are mentioned the names of 
numerous Irish settlers. Many of them were 
residents of the county long before the open- 
ing of the eighteenth century, and the man- 
ner in which the names of some of these 
Irish settlers are given in this nomenclature 
is a curious revelation into the way their 
original Celtic names became changed. For 
instance, we find "Swillivaun" for Sullivan, 
Patrick "Weitli" for Patrick White, "Mec- 
kans" for McCann, "Mourisse" for Mor- 
rissey, "Coneel"' for O'Connell, "Reyley" 
for Reilly, and so on. In the mutations 
of time, even these incongruities in names 
became still further changed, so that their 
descendants of the present day cannot be 
recognized at all as of Irish ancestry, and 
they themselves probably think they are of 
English or Dutch descent. The most pro- 
nounced Irish names enumerated in this book 
are Ahearn, Byrne, Butler, Burke, Bryan, 
Barrett, Costigan, Connell, Collins, 
'"Coneel," Conklin, Collier, Cassiday, Curtin, 
Cooney, Cunningham, Cummings, Court- 
ney, Cadogan, Cochrane, Connick, Connolly, 
Conneway, Dempsey, Daily, Dillon, Down- 
ing, "Dunnevan," "Dunnoway," Donovan, 
Donagoe, Ennis, Flynn, Fallon, Farrell, 
Fletcher, Fleming, "Glispy," "Glaspy," and 
Gillespie, Garigan, Gilliland, Griffin, Haines, 
Hogan, Heggerty, Humphrey, Holland, Har- 
rington, Kelley, Keating, Kane. Kennedy, Lo- 
gan, Lynch, Murphy, Morrow, Morris. Moore, 
Milligan, Mitchell, McManus, McGinnis, 
McNeal, McCleary, McGuire, McCoy, McEn- 
tee, McCann. McVey, McMenny, McGahary, 
McMullen, McKee, McCue, McFarland, Mc- 
Bride, McCann, McCloskey, McCarthy, Mc- 
Clure, McCay, McDonald, McKinney, Mc- 
Cullough, McGuiness, McClellan, Maloney, 
Mahoney, Magee, Mooney, Molloy, Mur- 
ray, "Mourisse," Manley, O'Brien, O'Con- 
nor and Connor, Norton, Nevin, Power, 
Quinn, Reilly, Ryan, Reynolds, "Swilli- 
vaun" and Sullivan, Tracy, Waters and 
Welsh. Besides these were Patrick Clarke, 
Patrick Kellinin. Patnick "Plat," Patrick 
White and Patrick Constable. Many of 
them were men of family. 

These were merchants, farmers, miners, 
millers and backwoodsmen; the pioneers 
who, with their Dutch neighbors, blazed the 
trail of civilization through that section, 
rolled back the savage red man, and who 
marked along the banks of the Hudson and 
Mohawk Rivers the sites of future towns 
and cities. 




Gove„„, 0, New York, ■a83..e38. B„„ i„ .^^i.^, ,„, „,^^ ^__ 

London, 1715. 



II.-DONGAN, THE IRISH GOVERNOR OF NEW YORK. 

Early Settlers in Long Island and in Columbia, Westchester, Orange and 

Ul^er Counties. 



It is hardly necessary to remind this 
gathering that such distinguished men as 
Governor Thomas Dongan and Sir Wm. 
Johnson were natives of the Emerald Isle, 
except to say that their careers were such 
that any American of Irish blood can point 
to them with pride. It was during the ad- 
ministration of Dongan, and under his direc- 
tion that the charter decreeing that no taxes 
should be imposed except by act of the As- 
sembly was adopted by the Provincial Leg- 
islature. This was a most radical change 
from the truly English method previously 
in vogue. His most prominent character- 
istic was his tolerance toward all forms of 
religion. He believed that one religious de- 
nomination had as good a righ-t as another 
to the free enjoyment of its creed and wor- 
ship, and his whole career indicates that 
he put that theory into practical execution. 
In 1687 he promulgated the "Declaration 
of Indulgence," which authorized public 
worship by any sect, and abolished all re- 
ligious qualifications for office. 

As to Johnson I will only say that he 
has been described by many unthinking 
writers as an "Englishman," or else that 
he was an Irishman merely "by accident of 
birth." I maintain, however, that there is 
no historical justification for either descrip- 
tion. There are English Johnsons and Irish 
Johnsons. The latter are of the purest na- 
tive Celtic stock, and even to-day there are 
families of Johnsons in Ireland who are 
called "Mac Shane" by their neighbors al- 
most as frequently as they are called "John- 
son." By a law passed in the second year 
of the reign of Edward IV. of England all 
Irishmen who resided within what was 
called the "Pale," that is, within the military 
jurisdiction of England as it then existed, 
were obliged to discard their old Irish clan 
names and adopt in their stead English Sur- 
names, under pain of the forfeiture of their 
possessions. When taking on their new 
names some of the Irish families adopted 
their English synonyms. The Mac Shanes 
were a celebrated fighting clan who took part 
in the wars between the O'Neills and O'Don- 
nells of Ulster and the English invader. Some 
of them are known to have settled within 
the Pale. Sir William Johnson was born 
in the County of Meath. which was within 
this charmed English, circle. In the Gaelic 
language "Mac" means "the son of," and 



"Shane" means "John," so that, when the 
MacShanes were forced to change their 
names, they naturally took that which bore 
in English the closest resemblance to their 
own, namely "Johnson." 

A person uninformed of the unfortunate 
history of Ireland, therefore, but more espe- 
cially one without some knowledge of the 
old Gaelic names, will find considerable dif- 
ficulty in recognizing the descendants of 
some of the early Irish emigrants as being 
of Irish blood. 

Dongan's estates were divided among his 
nephews, John, Thomas, and Walter Don- 
gan. Walter's son, Lieutenant-Colonel Ed- 
ward Dongan, of the 3d Battalion of New 
Jersey Volunteers was killed in an attack on 
the British forts on Staten Island in Aug- 
ust 1777. John C. Dongan, one of the de- 
scendants of the Governor represented Rich- 
mond County in the New York Assembly 
from 1786 to 1789. Among the Irish who 
settled early in Staten Island were Richard 
Connor, who arrived from Ireland in 1760, 
in which year he purchased a landed estate 
there. He is referred to in Clute's His- 
tory of the Island as "a man of respectable 
acquireriients and superior business quali- 
fications, who filled all the responsible posi- 
tions on the Island." His son, Richard, was 
a prominent surveyor and held various of- 
fices of trust. He was a member of the 
First and Third Provincial Congress. Jere- 
miah Connor is mentioned as in Staten 
Island in 1761. 

Among the members of the Colonial As- 
sembly from Richmond County who bore 
Irish names were Thomas Morgan, Henry 
Holland, John Dongan, John C. Dongan 
and John Dunn. 

Father Henry Harrison, an Irish Jesuit 
priest, was in New York in 1683, having 
been brought over by Governor Dongan, "to 
treat with the Caughnawaga Indians." 

Father Harrison went back to Ire- 
land in 1690, but returned seven years 
later, this time to Maryland, where he died 
in 1701. Another Irish missionary who 
labored among the Indians in New York 
about eighty years later was Revd. Mr. 
Kenny. 

In a report to the Lord President, dated 
September 8, 1687, Governor Dongan recom- 
mends "that natives of Ireland be sent here 
to colonize where they may live and be very 



happy." Numbers of them must have ac- 
cepted the invitation, for we find many Irish- 
men mentioned in the public documents of 
the Province during the succeeding years. 

In another of his reports to the ''Com- 
mittee of Trade of the Province of New 
York," dated February 22, 1687, he states 
that very few English, Scotch or Irish fami- 
lies had come over to the Province during 
the preceding seven years, but that "on the 
contrary, on Long Island they increase so 
fast that they complain for want of land, 
and many remove from thence into the 
neighboring Province." As to the Irish on 
Long Island, the official lists of the inhabi- 
tants would indicate that there were large 
numbers of them. In the rate lists of the 
year 1675 of Long Island townships, appear 
such names as Kelly, Dalton, Whelan, Hand, 
Hare, Fithian, Condon, Barry and Shaw, 
in Easthampton ; in Huntington, Powers, 
Bryan, Goulden, Quinn, Canye, Kane and 
White ; in Southold, Moore, Conklin, Lyman, 
Coleman, Martin, Lee, White, Bradley, Grif- 
fin, Terrell, Giles, Moore, Veale and Clarke ; 
in Flushing, Harrington, Ford, Griffin, Ward, 
Daniell, Clery, Patrick, Holdren and Hol- 
drone. Edward Hart was Town Clerk of 
Flushing in 1638. In Brookhaven, Ward, 
Clarke, Norton, Davis, Sweeney, Murphy, 
Lane and Rogers ; in Gravesend, Boyce and 
Goulding ; in Jamaica, Creed, Ford and Free- 
man ; in Hempstead, Sutton, Ireland, Dan- 
iell, Lee and Reilly ; in Oyster Bay, McCor- 
kel, Collins, Butler, Davis and Kirby; in 
Southampton, Kelly, Kennedy, Mitchel, 
Hughes, Cochrane, McCown, Butler, Bar- 
rett, Moore, Hand, Shaw, Clarke, Norris 
and Jennings. There were several families 
of the same name scattered over the island. 
Many other landowners bearing non^Irish 
surnames, but Irish Christian names, such as 
Brighid Clement, Brighid Roberts, Bridget 
Scudder, Patrick Mott, and the like, I do 
not include. The names of these doubtless 
were changed before they left Ireland, under 
the operation of the English law already re- 
ferred to. 

William Welsh, one of the counsellors 
of William Penn, negotiated a treaty in 
1683 with the Indians of Northwestern New 
York. He represented the Governor of 
Pennsylvania in negotiations with Gover- 
nor Dongan in 1684 relative to a quarrel 
with Lord Baltimore. Nicholas Cullen 
signed a complaint of the inhabitants of 
the City of New York to the English King 
on June 11, 1687. In a letter from Lieu- 
tenant-Governor Leisler, of New York, on 
March 4, 1689, to the Governor of Maryland, 
he refers to "the insolent but courageous 
conduct of the Papists," and how he had 



"suspected and apprehended two Irish re- 
bellious traitors, placed them on a bark and 
sent them to Maryland." In a report to 
the same Leisler from Captain John Coode, 
dated April 4, i6go, he speaks of certain 
prisoners "lately in custody upon suspicion 
of being Irishmen and papists." Two of the 
prisoners, named Healy and Walsh, who 
made their escape to Pennsylvania, seem 
to have been particularly obnoxious to the 
virtuous Captain Coode. These letters, in 
themselves, prove that many Irishmen were 
residents of the colony of New York at that 
time, but of the names of many of them 
and the places where they settled I ajn yet 
unable to find any reliable record. 

In Munsell's "American Ancestry," James 
Murphy, who was born in Dublin, is re- 
ferred to as a settler in Columbia County 
in 1694. He was the owner of a large tract 
of land, and is said to have had numerous 
descendants. One of them, John Murphy, 
who was born in 1767, served in the war 
of 1812. Tunis Cochran, who was also born 
in Ireland, was a later settler in the same 
county. He fought in the Revolutionary 
War, and his son, Tunis, upheld the fighting 
record of the family by serving in the war 
of 1812. John Scott came from Ireland in 
1739, and settled in Spencertown, Columbia 
County. He married Mary Hughes, an 
Irishwoman. 

Other early Irish settlers in Columbia 
County were Daniel Downing, in 1749, who 
commanded a company of New York militia 
in the Revolutionary War; William Collins, 
in 1767; Samuel McClellan and Samuel Hig- 
gins, in 1783, and Joseph Daley in 1790. 
James White, who was born in County 
Down, settled in Chatham in 1765. He was 
a lieutenant-colonel in the Revolutionary 
Army, and served under Washington. He 
was the son of James White, who was for 
many years a member of the Irish Parlia- 
ment. 

In a petition to the Governor of New 
York of the residents of Columbia County, 
dated January 7, 1695, praying for an inves- 
tigation into Robert Livingston's title to 
certain tracts of land in that county, I 
find such names as Connor, Kilmore, Mc- 
Lean, Crian, McDermott, Davis, Whalen, 
Kilmer, Dennis, McArthur, "Cannay," Al- 
lan, Drum, and Murphy Mclntyre. 

Among the employees of the same Robert 
Livingston, at the Ancram Iron Works, 
were McCoy, McArthur, Furlong, Elliott, 
Angus McDufiEey and Timothy O'Connor. 

In a map of Columbia County, compiled 
from actual surveys by John Wigram in 
January, 1798, I find among the property 
owners, Collins, Gill, Lynch, Roddy, Patrick, 



McCarthy, Moore, Kilmore, McFall, Morri- 
son, Meghley, McDermott, Lane, McArthur, 
Mclntyre, Irvine, Carroll, Brian, McClean 
and Brofey. In order to have acquired prop- 
erty I have no doubt many, if not all, of 
these were there many years. In an old 
churchyard at Kinderhook may be seen such 
names as O'Dowd and O'Brady, dated 1740 
and 1749 respectively. Other early settlers 
in Columbia County were Powers, Blakes 
and Buckleys. 

Newtown, L. I., is said to be one of the 
very oldest towns in the Province of New 
York, its history antedating even that of 
New Amsterdam. It seems to have been 
a popular place with Irish settlers in the 
early days. In 1664, John Cochran was 
a constable and freeholder of the town of 
Newtown. About the same period there 
were several Moores, and families named 
Hart and Jennings in Newtown. The na- 
tionality of these is not given, but the 
names are so common in Ireland that is 
is probable they were of that nation. 

Hugh O'Neale was a prominent resident 
of Newtown in 1655, and in that year he 
married a daughter of Dr. Adrian Van der 
Donck, of Flushing, who is described in 
the History of Newtown as a distinguished 
Doctor of Laws. Van der Donck was one 
of the early Dutch settlers of that town, and 
was the first to obtain a patent for the Rap- 
pelye estate at Astoria. The Rappelyes were 
related by marriage to the celebrated Riker 
family, and to-day the old Rappelye Ceme- 
tery at Astoria is one of the most interest- 
ing spots to students of old New York. 
There one can decipher on the old tomb- 
stones the names of many of the 
Rikers and the Rappelyes, and of others 
who married into these pioneer families 
long before the Revolution. 

It is remarkable to read of the number of 
Irishmen who married into the Riker family. 
Captain George Collins, married Elizabeth 
Riker in 1742. Michael Hines married Ger- 
trude Riker, and a Captain John O'Brian 
married Jane Riker, one of whose daughters 
later became the wife of the distinguished 
American artist, Inman. Thomas Lynch, a 
Galway man, also married into this family, 
and the widow of Lynch afterwards became 
the wife of Anthony Duane, also a Galway 
man, who was a leading merchant of New 
York, and the father of James Duane, dis- 
tinguished as a member of the first Conti- 
nental Congress and the first Mayor of New 
York in the infant days of the American 
Republic. 

In later years, another lady of the Riker 
family was married to Dr. William James 
MacNevin, one of the leaders of the United 



Irishmen, and who is known as the "Father 
of American Chemistry." MacNevin was 
buried in the old cemetery at Astoria. 

Several families of McDonoughs were in 
Newtown before 1750, and some of them are 
mentioned as occupying leading positions 
in the affairs of that then populous set- 
tlement. Terrence Reilly, a New York mer- 
chant, lived in Newtown in 1755. There 
also settled McConnells, Shannons, Devines 
and Haires. John Kearns taught school at 
Newtown during the Revolutionary War, and 
after the war one Thomas McFarran pur- 
chased an estate there of an English officer 
named Grant whose property became for- 
feited. Daniel Bodle, a native of Armagh, 
was in Newtown in 1740, but in 1742 he 
settled at Little Britain in Orange County, 
where he became a civil magistrate. He 
married a cousin of Governor Clinton, by 
whom he had a large family. He was one 
of the most widely known and respected 
men in that section of the country and 
served in the Congress of the United States 
as a representative from Ulster and Sullivan 
counties. He lived to a sublime old age. 

William Kelly, of New York, was owner 
of a packet vessel plying between New York 
and the Island of Barbadoes in 1750. It 
was to this island that Cromwell exiled 
thousands of the Irish race in the middle 
of the seventeenth century, and from where 
many of their descendants afterward came 
to the American colonies. A Captain Ed- 
ward Kelly, commander of a whaling vessel, 
was also in New York at this time. His 
family is mentioned in the History of New- 
town as residents of that town. Another 
of the Kelly clan was a lawyer in New 
York in 1755. Daniel O'Brien is mentioned 
in the Nezv York Weekly Gazette Review 
as theowner of a ferry plying between New 
York and Amboy, thence by stage coach to 
Philadelphia, in the year i7S0- 

W^illiam O'Dell was one of the first set- 
tlers in Rye, Westchester County. He locat- 
ed there in 1662, and became a large land 
holder. William Collins was excise col- 
lector of Westchester Comity in 1686, and 
Bridget Ferguson was in that county in 1696. 

In Baird's History of Rye Gabriel Lynch 
is mentioned as a settler in 1688. He came 
from England, which fact prompted another 
historical writer to designate him an "Eng- 
lisman." Another, Gabriel Lynch, was one 
of the Commissioners of Highways in Rye 
in 1765. Captain John Lynch was one of 
the petitioners for a patent for the White 
Plains Purchase in 1721. John Lynch was 
a land owner in White Plains in i737- All 
of these Lynches are said to be of separate 
families, who settled early in New York. 



In Bolton's History of Westchester 
County several members of the Hayes fa- 
mily, settlers in Rye in 1721, are mentioned. 
They were mine owners and also owned a 
large tract of land. Other Irish settlers in 
Rye, who are mentioned at various times 
between the years 1710 and 1799, were Ken- 
nedys, McCullums, Nealys, Moores, Sex- 
tons, Suttons, Hares, Caseys, and Fitzger- 
alds. Captain John Flood, of Rye, was 
"voted twenty dollars by the Committee of 
Safety in 1776 as a reward for his spirited 
conduct in apprehending William Louns- 
berry, a notorious enemy of America." 

In Eastchester half a century before the 
Revolution, were families styled "Gee" (Mc- 
Gee), fitz giarral" (Fitzgerald), Ward and 
Curry. 

In the records of the neighboring towns 
of Westchester County we meet with the 
names of several settlers of the same names. 
They were merchants, farmers and Indian 
traders. Among the residents of New 
Rochelle in 17 10 were nine Barretts, seven 
"Moryces," five "Murros," and two Man- 
nions. These "Moryces" were, no doubt 
originally Morrisseys, and it is entirely 
within the bounds of probability to say that 
the "Murros" of New Rochelle were de- 
scended from the MacMurroughs of Lein- 
ster. We do know from Irish history that 
the "Murro" and '"Morrow" families in Ire- 
land are descended from the MacMurroughs. 

In Orange County records of the earliest 
pioneer days in that county mention is made 
of Irish settlers. Lossing says "the City of 
Newburgh was first settled in 1709 by Eng- 
lish, Irish, New England and Huguenot fa- 
milies." John Connor, who was born in 
County Westmeath, in 1741, settled in 
Orange Co. in 1767. He married one Han- 
nah Dunn. He served as a private in a New 
York regiment in the Revolutionary War. 
One of his descendants, Dr. Leartus Connor, 
of Detroit, was one of the leading medical 
men of America. A family of Fitzgeralds 
were prominent land owners in Orange Co. 
in 1750. In 1729, Charles Clinton, father 
of a distinguished family of Revolutionary 
soldiers and statesmen, left County Long- 
ford and settled the town of New Wind- 
sor, Orange County, with 200 of his fellow- 
countrymen. He married an Irishwoman. 
Their daughter married Colonel James Mc- 
Claughrey, a brave Irish officer of the Revo- 
lution. It was the Clinton family that gave 
New York its first Republican Governor. 
They were originally of English descent, 
who fled into Ireland during the regime of 
Cromwell. In Ireland they became "as Irish 
as the Irish themselves." In a map of that 
section of the State along the Delaware and 
Susquehanna rivers, filed in the Surveyor- 



General's Office in 1690, I find the following 
property owners in the year 1683: Butler, 
McNeil, Croghan, McKee, Loudon, Byrne, 
Alloon, Clarke, White, McFarlan, Kennedy, 
Guerin and Crean. There were several fami- 
lies bearing the same name. In 1720, there 
were, in addition to these, land owners 
named Hogan, Kelly, Collins, Lewis, Hol- 
land and Feeley. 

As early as 1676, there were Irishmen in 
Ulster County, and in a petition sent by the 
inhabitants of Esopus in that county to the 
Provincial Governor in that year, praying to 
have a clergyman sent to them, were such 
signatories as Quirk, Shea, Gray, Danniell 
and McGarton. In the "Journal of the Second 
Esopus War" in 1663, Captain Martin Krie- 
ger refers to an Irishman named Thomas 
so frequently that we must conclude he acted 
a very prominent part in the doings of the 
early settlers of that section. 

On the headstones in an old churchyard 
at Kingston are inscribed several Irish 
names dated as far back as 171 1, one, a 
family named O'Neill, having been quite 
numerous in that section. 

The baptisimal and marriage records of 
the old Dutch Church at Kingston contain 
many Irish names, among which may be 
mentioned Cane, Cavenagh, Connor, Con- 
way, Carroll, Corkren, Carrick, Conneway, 
Dailey, Dooley, Doyle, Ennis, Farrel, Flana- 
gan, Garvey, Griffin, Gilliland, Hogan, Hol- 
land, Haaley, Harrington, Haes, Kean, 
Kehill, McGuiness, McKennie, McDonnell, 
Moore, Magee, Makoun, McKeffie, McCabie, 
Makartrie, McKie, McGahan, McFall, Mac- 
pharlin, McKabe, McCarty, Mogan, Pouwer, 
Reilly, Sweeney, Welsch, and so on. Some 
of these run back to the first decade of the 
eighteenth century. The Carrolls were quite 
numerous, although the name is spelled, in 
most cases, "Karel" and "Karole." Flana- 
gan is down as "Flanninger" and "Flanen- 
gen," McDonnell as "Mektonel," McMullen 
as "Mekmollen," MdDonough as "Mekdon- 
nog," Connor as "Konners," and other Irish 
names are twisted into every conceivable 
shape and form. 

In a list of Freeholders in the same coun- 
ty in 1728 are included such names as 
Moore, McNeill, McCollum, Ward, Hum- 
phrey, Shaw and a Dr. Golden. 

In the muster rolls of the Ulster County 
Militia of the year 1737 are to be found 
such armed defenders of the colony as 
Ennis, Magennis, McLean, Waters, Mc- 
Gregory, Davis, Moore, McNeill, Gillespies, 
(spelled "Glaspy" and "GHspy"), Milligan, 
Coleman, Shaw, two Patrick Broder^icks 
(both spelled "pathrick broodrick"), Mc- 



10 



Collum, Hayes, Humphrey, Ward, Flanigan, 
Patrick Gillespie, Lowry, Crane, McDonnell, 
Blake, Boyle, McGowan, McDonnell, Mc- 
Cloghrey, Sutton, Nealy, Cain, Neil, Read, 
McKey, McDowell and McMichael. There 
were several of the Humphreys, McNeills 
and Gillespies. Last, but perhaps not least, 
there was a forlorn soldier styled "pathcr- 



ick mac peick," and if Patrick had any race 
pride at all I shouldn't wonder if he were 
not indignant enough to refuse to go out 
and do battle with the Indians after his 
name had been so badly slaughtered by the 
poor scribe of a corporal ! Those were days, 
however, when ''a rose by any other name 
did smell as sweet." 



<=[^^<}=> 



11 



III.-THE IRISH BRIGADE. 
Pioneers of Yates, Oswego and Washington Counties. 



Among the earliest, some of them the 
first, settlers in Yates County, were Hugh 
Walsh, John Collins, Daniel Neven, John 
McAuley, William McDowell, William Wall, 
John Malley, Andrew Fleming, George Mc- 
Murphy, Samuel McFarren, John O'Brien, 
John Reynolds, and Parleys, Fintons, Glea- 
sons, Gilmores and McMasters. 

In the neighboring county, Oswego, Irish- 
men are also found about the time of the 
Franco-English war. They were not alone 
among those settlers who followed the peace- 
ful pursuits of tilling and building, but they 
were "the men behind the guns" who held 
the marauding Indian in check, and who, 
although fighting under the English flag, re- 
pelled the advances of the French through 
that territory. It does not follow from this 
that all of those soldiers bearing Irish names 
came over with the English regiments. 
Some of them seem to have been laborers 
and backwoodsmen, but who "for love of a 
fight," joined the forces of Sir William 
Johnson which had been operating against 
the French in that territory. 

In the "Manuscripts of Sir William John- 
son" is found an interesting item indicat- 
ing that large numbers of Irishmen were ac- 
tive participants in the fighting along the 
Northwestern frontier of New York in the 
middle of the eighteenth century. In a re- 
port dated May 28, 1756, from the comman- 
der of an English regiment, he says that 
"a great number of Irish papists and trans- 
ports who were enlisted from Pennsylvania 
and Maryland, deserted at Oswego and other 
garrisons, sheltered themselves among the 
Indians of the Six Nations, who passed 
them through their country on their way 
back to the provinces, whence they enlisted, 
and where they have acquaintances and con- 
federates." That "there are great numbers 
of these Irish papists among the Delaware 
and Susquehanna Indians who have done 
a world of prejudice to English interests." 
Doubtless these Irishmen had been forcibly 
impressed into the English service, which 
they had every reason to despise, and grasped 
the opportunity of their close contiguity 
to the French and friendly Indians to make 
their escape in large bodies. This circum- 
stance seems to have caused general alarm 
among the English officials, who, undoubt- 
edly, depended much on these impressed 
Irish soldiers to fight their battles, as Eng- 



land has on many occasions since in her 
campaigns of aggression and conquest. 

The contests between the French and 
English at this time along the Canadian bor- 
der were of the fiercest character. Both 
employed friendly Indian tribes, but the 
commanders on neither side could restrain 
the savages from ravaging the settlements 
of the white man. In these raids the peace- 
ful settler suffered many hardships, and 
from the New York papers of the day, we 
glean some idea of the strife of the con- 
tending parties. The New York Mercury 
on June 14, 1756, gave an account of an 
Indian attack on settlements near Oswego, 
and among a number of artizans and far- 
mers killed at that place were James Flana- 
gan, Michael Murray, John Mitchell, John 
Jordan and James Grant, and among those 
who were made prisoners were William 
Drewry, Thomas Gleddon, James Dawson, 
Thomas Hogan, James Cavenagh, Samuel 
Miles and William Mullett. 

Colonel James Barrett, who commanded 
the patriots at Concord, was a Captain of 
Provincials at Oswego. 

Another interesting item pertaining to 
American history of this period, is one con- 
tained in the "Journals of the Marquis of 
Montcalm," commander of the French troops, 
relating to the Irish Brigade in the service 
of France. In August, 1756, the French 
laid siege to Chouaguen, on Lake On- 
tario, opposite Oswego. After a fierce en- 
gagement, the English surrendered with all 
their armaments and vessels of war, and 
among the prisoners were "two English 
regiments which were at the Battle of Fon- 
tenoy." It so happened that the regiment 
which compelled their surrender was one of 
those which comprised the Irish Brigade 
which administered such telling defeat to 
the "bloody Duke of Cumberland" on that 
historic battlefield. In the Canadian cam- 
paign, it was commanded by a Colonel 
Beam (Byrne?), and, whether or not the 
same identical men made up its muster roll 
when at Oswego as had been at Fontenoy 
. eleven years before, the capture of the two 
English regiments must indeed have been a 
source of grim satisfaction to those Franco- 
Irish soldiers. Beam's regiment receives 
special mention in the "Journals of Mont- 
calm" for its bravery in this engagement. 
"The leaders in the attack on the fort," to 



12 




Governor of the Province of 
New York. Born at Smith- 
town, County Meath, 1715. 
Died at Johnstown, N. 
Y., July 11, 1774. 



quote the words of a deserter from one of 
the English regiments, "were the French 
soldiers who were clothed in red, faced with 
green, wihich, I imagine, belong to the Irish 
Brigade." This description coincides exact- 
ly with the uniform worn by the Irish Bri- 
gade in the service of France at that time. 

In the French-English War, Irish sol- 
diers fought on both sides. They were at 
Lake George in I7S7 under Sir William 
Johnson, and in the ranks of Montcalm's 
army there were many exiles of Erin 
scattered through the different regiments, 
besides the distinct corps commanded by 
Colonel Beam. 

Lossing relates that in the attack on the 
garrison at Long Point, on Lake George, 
by General Montcalm on March i6th, 1757, 
"the garrison made a vigorous defense. 
The garrison and fort were saved by the 
vigilance of Lieutenant (afterwards Gen- 
eral) Stark, who, in the absence of Rogers, 
had command of the Rangers, a large por- 
tion of which were Irishmen. On the even- 
ing of the 1 6th he overheard some of them 
planning a celebration for St. Patrick's 
Day." He goes on to say that the Irish in 
the regular regiments usually became hila- 
rious on the occasion of such celebrations, 
and Montcalm, anticipating that they would 
be hors de combat, planned his attack on the 
night preceding St. Patrick's Day, but that 
"Stark, with his sober rangers, gallantly de- 
fended and saved the fort." 

Most assuredly the Irish must have been 
in great force in the army to warrant an 
assertion such as this on the part of 
this noted American historian. Amons 



the officers killed in the battle of Lake 
George were Captains Maginn, Farrell, and 
McGinnis. To the last named, who com- 
manded the New Hampshire militia, is given 
the credit of turning the fortunes of the 
day. "At the head of 200 men he fell on 
the French and completely routed them." 

Roger's Rock, on Lake George, was the 
scene of more than one stubborn fight with 
the Indians in the campaign of 1755. Major 
Rogers, from whom it took its name, is 
described by Lossing as "the son of an 
Irishman," who was an early settler in New 
Hampshire. 

John Savage, who was born in Derry in 
1707, settled in Salem, Washington County. 
He was captain of a company of volunteers 
in the French War. One of his descend- 
ants, Edward Savage, of Salem, was a mem- 
ber of the New York Legislature for 21 
years, and his grandson, John Savage, of 
Utica, was Comptroller of the State from 
1 82 1 to 1823, and from the latter year to 
1836 was Chief Justice of the Supreme 
Court of New York. Other settlers in 
Washington County were Harringtons, 
Powers, Griffiths and Nortons, who located 
at Granville; in White Creek, Kennedys, 
Lyons, Savages and Grays, and in the neigh- 
boring settlement of Dorset (now Vermont) 
we find Manly, Powell, Ward, Gill, Brad- 
ley and Clarke. All of these were farmers. 
In the same neighborhood lived Robert 
Cochran, one of the "rioters" with Ethan 
Allen in 1771. David Mooney received a 
grant of 2,000 acres of land in Washing- 
ton County in 1765. It was known as the 
Mooney Patent. 



<=pco^ 



14 



IV.-CHURCH RECORDS IN EVIDENCE. 

How Irish Names Became Changed. 



In the collections of the New York Gen- 
ealogical and Biographical Society covering 
marriages solemnized in the Dutch Re- 
formed Church of New York between the 
years 1639 and 1801, are records of mar- 
riages of numerous Irishmen and Irish- 
women. The earliest seems to be the mar- 
riage of William Moore and Margaret Feen 
on October 8, 1685. George Walker, de- 
scribed as "from lerlant," was married to 
a Miss Van Hoeck on September 23, 1692, 
and Miss Aeltje Jans took the more eupho- 
nious name of Flynn on July 7, 1693. Cath- 
erine Stridles demonstrated her aesthetic 
taste when, on April 18, 1701, she married 
Willem Doulen, who is described as "from 
Jerlandt." There are many curious entries 
such as this : "Denys Costula, j. m. v. ler- 
landt, met Elisabeth Rendal, Wed. v. Bar- 
ney Hamilton, v. Jerlandt, byde woonende 
alhier, December i, 1730." Translating 
this it says that "Dennis Costello, who was 
born in Ireland, married Elizabeth Rendal, 
who was the widow of Barney Hamilton, 
born in Ireland, both residing here," and 
in reading it we wonder how Denny Cos- 
tello's friends in Ireland could ever have 
recognized him by that twist in his name ! 
Another example of a Dutch description of 
an Irish marriage is this : "John O'Bryan, 
j. m., en Margary Flingh, j. d., byde ge- 
boren in Jerlandt, en nu wonende in New- 
york." This interesting incident took place 
on June 7, 1761. 

Between 1685 and 1700 there are hundreds 
of persons bearing Irish names recorded, 
and in many cases they are referred to as 
immigrants from Ireland. In a few cases, 
their particular place of birth, such as 
"Dubblin" and "Kork," are mentioned. 
Such names as O'Brien, O'Neill, Sullivan, 
McCarthy, McGinnis, Murphy, Flynn and 
Lynch, and others that are as distinctively 
Irish are mentioned frequently. 

On the other hand, a great many names 
are spelled phonetically, which gives them 
an odd appearance at first glance, but which 
does not entirely rob them of their origin. 
The full list would make most interesting 
reading, and is one of the best illustrations 
that could be produced of the varying meth- 
ods that were used in changing the origi- 
nal names of the early Irish settlers. 

It must not be forgotten, however, that 
this list is that of only one church, and it 
is fair to assume that similar examples ap- 



pear on the records of other old New York 
churches. 

The majority of the Irishmen and Irish 
women who were married in this church 
bore the most distinctively Celtic names. 
Now, many of these people, particularly 
those who came here in the earliest years, 
could not express themselves in the Eng- 
lish language. The language best known 
to them was their own, so that it is not 
strange to run across such a name, for 
instance, as "Kallye," in the early records, 
and it requires but little introspection into 
old Gaelic nomenclature at once to conclude 
that the person so recorded was properly 
named O'Ceallaigh, or, in its modern form, 
O'Kelly or Kelly. "Okeley" was also one 
of the peculiarities which this name took, 
and there is not much doubt but that, on 
account of its singular appearance, it came 
to be pronounced as if it were "Oakley." 
The names were written down phonetically, 
the consequence being that the ministers and 
their clerks, and other persons who kept 
such records, produced, in many cases, the 
most ludicruous and meaningless orthog- 
raphical results. 

It all depended on how the people them- 
selves pronounced their names. The Irish 
language sounded strangely in the ears of 
the Dutchman, and, as some of the O'Kelly's 
and Kellys pronounced the name correct- 
ly, that is to say, as if it were spelled "Kall- 
ye," while others pronounced it in the mod- 
ern method, they naturally wrote it down on 
the records either as "Kallye" or "Okeley 1" 

There are many instances like this to be 
found. The name of Brady is written down 
in the Dutch records in several different 
ways, as for example, "Jeams Braddys," 
who married Hannah Manning in New York 
on July 28, 1659, and Effie "Bready," who 
was united to "Patrik Queen" (Quinn), 
from Ireland, on March 19, i770. 

Martin "Coin" and Hannah "Boyl" were 
married on January 6, I7S7- Such varia- 
tions as "Boil" for Boyle, and "Coil" for 
Coyle are also found. ^ _ ^^ 

The name of Byrne is written "Burrin, 
as for instance, the marriage, on October 5. 
1770, of David Narel, described as an Irish- 
man' to Elizabeth "Burrins," who came 
from Barbadoes. 

The name of Ryan was the target ^^for 
many peculiar changes. John F. "Rein" is 
recorded as having been married on April 



15 



13, I7i6, but, if it would possibly be incor- 
rect to say that he sprung from the old race 
of the O'Ryans, there can hardly be any 
doubt about the nationality of Richard 
"Rian," who married Rebecca Ervin on July 
3, 1783, or of Elizabeth "Ryen," who 
changed her name to the less euphonious 
one of Ryd on November 13, 1760. Nor can 
there be any mistake about Hannah "Ryn," 
who was married to William Hayes on Fel)- 
ruary 3, 1772, for the good reason that they 
are both recorded as natives of Ireland. 
And as if to round out this series of changes 
I find in "New York in the Revolution" the 
name of John "Ryne," who was a lieutenant 
in the Fourteenth Regiment of New York 
Militia. 

Besides the common forms of Carty and 
Carthy, some of the McCarthy family are 
recorded as "Cartee" and "Charty," and we 
even find such a monstrosity as "Magkar- 
tay" taking the place of this old historic 
name ! 

Here is a sample of many entries which 
appear in these old records : "Zyn van ons 
in den Huwelyken Staat bevestigt, Patrick 
Fox en Magdalena Sheredewyn beide van 
Nieuw York." Translating this, it reads : 
"Invested by us in the holy state of matri- 
mony Patrick Fox and Magdalena Shere- 
dewyn, both of New York." It doesn't 
need much of a stretch of the imagination 
to conclude that the lady's name was Sheri- 
dan. 

The name of Daly is also one which 
had to stand the brunt of many changes. 
"Alargrite Dally," from Ireland, married 
"Patrik Follon," also described as from 
Ireland, on December 22, 1774- In. other 
entries the name is given as "Dayly," "Dae- 
ley" and '"Dailee." Some of the Carrolls 
are recorded as "Corol,' "Carell and "Car- 
rel. There are two revolutionary soldiers, 
who sprung, no doubt, from the O'Learys, 
down as "Laere" and "Lary." The former 
was in the Third Battalion of the Tryon 
County Militia, and the latter in Brincker- 
hofif's regiment of State troops. 

Other methods by which the old Irish 
names became disguised were : McManness 
and McMoness for McManus, McMulland 
for McMullen, MacKnult for McNulty, and 
so on, and while these cannot be said to be 
violent departures from the originals, yet, 
when the prefix was subsequently dropped 
from the substituted name, it will at once 
be seen what a complete change resulted. 
Many of the McLoughlins are down as 
"McClocklin" and "Maglaghlin," McGee is 
written down "Megee" and "Magey," Mc- 
Afee as "Mekafee," McGill as "Mekill," and 
McNeill as MaKneel." The name of O'Neill 
is also given as "Okneel." 



Jeremiah "Shansee's" ancestors would 
hardly recognize him in that guise, although, 
for other reasons, they would be quite proud 
of him, for Jerry was a brave soldier who 
served in Van Rensselaer's regiment of New 
York State troops, in the Revolutionary 
War. Sergeant Michael "Opherl" of Can- 
tine's regiment of State troops would also 
have a hard time proving his Irish ances- 
try if it depended alone on the appearance- 
of his name. There were several of this 
family serving in the New York Line dur- 
ing the War of the Revolution, although the . 
names of the others were spelled either 
O'Ferril or O'Ferrell. 

The name of "Moorey," doubtless, was . 
formed by the addition of the final "y" to 
Moore, while, on the other hand, the "y" 
was dropped from Mooney, thus making it 
"Moone." The name of "Murfee" appears 
very frequently in the old Colonial records, 
as well as "Huyse" and "Hues," meant for 
Hughes ; "Kayse" for Casey, "Mak Guire" 
and "Gwire" for McGuire, "MkMihon" for. 
McMahon, "Makre" for McCrea, and "Dwir" 
for Dwyer. Patrick Ma Har was a soldier 
who served in the "Corps of Invalids'. En- 
sign "Solivan" was in the Second Regiment; 
from the Schenectady District, and Peter 
"Fitchpatrick" served in Colonel Fisher's 
regiment of the New York State troops. 
How simple it must have been for Peter's 
descendants to drop the "patrick" from the . 
name and call themselves "Fitch." 

The name of O'Brien also had its troubles 
in these changeful days. John "Brine," a 
mariner, was married to Elizabeth Van Clyff 
in the Dutch Reformed Church in New York 
on August 4, 1696, and in these records 
there are also entries about which one is 
apt to be suspicious, such as "Bryn" and 
"Bryen," but it is possible these may have 
been of the Dutch family of Bruyn, which 
was quite common in New York. In "New 
York in the Revolution" there are two sol- 
diers named "O'Briant" recorded. The 
dropping of the historic prefix would have 
made the change complete, and if some of 
the "Briants," descendants of these revo- 
lutionary soldiers, were to be told they 
came from a family that can trace its Irish 
ancestry in a direct line back for more than 
a thousand years they would probably be as- 
tonished ! There were many O'Briens in the 
War of the Revolution whose names are 
spelled in several different ways, but re- 
taining the original sound. 

The Irish residents of New York whose 
marriages are recorded in the Dutcn kc- 
formed Church were, doubtless, in every 
case of the Roman Catholic faith, but, as it 
was necessary to comply with the established 
law, and also so that their offspring may be 

16 



legitimate, they could be bound in wedlock 
only by a recognized Minister of the Gospel. 
There being no Roman Catholic Churcu in 
New York for many years during the period 
mentioned, the ceremony had to be per- 
formed in the Dutch Reformed or Protestant 
Church. Many of them were refugees from 
Ireland on account of the religious perse- 
cutions. Like the people of Ireland in all 
ages, they were devoted to their religion, 
and while, no doubt, they eschewed for a 
while association with the established 
churches, yet, as time went on, they and 
their children were gradually drawn into 
religious intercourse with the other sects, 
until eventually they became regular com- 
municants of those churches. The varia- 
tions which from time to time were wrought 
in their names brought them further and 
further away from what they had been ; in 
their new surroundings, both social and re- 
ligious, they themselves changed, so that 
their children, who in many cases married 
into their neighboring Dutch and French 
families, became as wholly un-Irish in man- 
ner and sentiment as if they had sprung 
from an entirely different race. That fact, 
however, does not admit of their being now 
included in the category "Anglo-Saxon." 

I am not discoursing on the subject of 
religion, nor do I intend to introduce it, 
but, I am compelled to say, that the fact 
that such great and diversified alterations 
were effected in the names of the early 
Irish settlers in the colonies, and the fur- 
ther fact that so many of those settlers and 
their children abandoned the ancient faith 
with which the Celtic race has been identified 
for centuries, brought about this unfortunate 
result, that they became completely changed 
during the passing of the years, so that to- 
day a large section of the American people 
are prone to believe that the Irish did not 
figure to any extent in the early struggles 
of their adopted country ! 

In another work entitled "Names of Per- 
sons for whom Marriage licenses were is- 
sued by the Secretary of the Province of 
New York, previous to 1784." compiled by 
Gideon J. Tucker (when Secretary of State), 
and taken from the early records of the 
office of the Secretary of State at Albany, 
we find ample corroboration of the church 



records. Page after page of this book looks 
more like some record of the Province of 
Munster than of the Province of New York. 
It is a quarto volume printed in small type 
in double columns, and there are eleven 
pages wholly devoted to persons whose 
names commence with "Mac" and three to 
the "O's." Like some of the colonial rec- 
ords to which I have already referred, it 
is one of those rare and valuable works 
that are the depositories of the evidence of 
the part played by the Irish race in the lay- 
ing of the foundations of this State. Peru- 
sal of them by some of our present-day ora- 
tors of the dinner-table, who so amusing- 
ly glorify the "Anglo-Saxon" as the founder 
of the American race, would have a chast- 
ening influence on their ignorance of early 
American history, and would reopen the 
long vista of the years, at the very begin- 
ning of which they would see the Teuton, 
the Celt, and the Gaul working side by side 
solidifying the fulcrum of the structure on 
which this great Nation rests. 

Nearly every name common to Ireland is 
here represented. There are 18 O'Connors 
and Connors, 84 Moores, 24 Collinses, 24 
McDonnells, 22 Walshs, 21 Murphys, 16 
Kellys, 17 Ryans, 14 O'Briens, 15 Kennedys. 
14 McNeills, 20 Suttons, 11 Sullivans, and 
so many McCarthy's, Dalys, Reillys, O'Neills, 
Flanagans, Doyles, Doughertys and such 
names, that one almost gets tired reading 
them. 

Captain George Croghan, the celebrated 
Indian Agent of fhe Province, was an Irish- 
man. So was the first white settler in Sara- 
toga County, Michael McDonald. 

Sir William Johnson employed many of 
his countrymen. His lawyer's name was 
Kelly : his physician, Daly ; his secretary. 
Lafferty, and the superintendent of his 
properties was named Flood. A school- 
master named Wall, whom he established at 
Johnstown, came from Johnson's native 
county of Meath, and several of his scholars 
bore the most distinctively Irish names. 
Others in his employ bore such names as 
Byrne, McCarthy, Cotter, Doran, McDonald. 
Connor, and so on. Some of them became 
large landowners. Michael Byrne, for in- 
stance, owned 18,000 acres in Tryon County 
in 1764. 



17 



V.-IRISH MERCHANTS AND LANDOWNERS. 

Early Celebrations of St. Patrick's Day-Irish Officers in the New York 
Regiments in the Revolution. 



Among the largest landowners on the 
banks of Lake Champlain were Connollys 
and McCauleys, and in that portion of the 
province, now Vermont, there were settlers 
a score of years before the Revolution named 
Burke, Barrett, Kennedy, McCoy, Hogan, 
Dunn, Cummins, Larkin, McConnell, Moore, 
Garvey, Goff, Carey, McCarra, Duane, and 
others too numerous to mention, but w'hose 
names clearly indicate their Irish origin. 
The Duane family alone, who came from 
the County of Galway, owned 63,000 acres 
of land in that section. 

The first linen manufactories in New 
York were established by Irishmen. "As 
early as 1700 all of the linen used by the 
inhabitants came from Ireland," says Loss- 
ing, and in a report from Governor Tryon, 
dated June n, 1774, he states that "eleven- 
twelfths of the inhabitants of the province 
are clothed in linen imported from Ireland," 
and that "there is every year a great quan- 
tity of flaxseed, lumber and iron sent to Ire- 
. land in ships belonging to that Kingdom, 
and which came out annually with passen- 
gers and servants." Among the prominent 
linen merchants of New York I find Hugh 
Wallace and James McBride, both natives 
of Ireland, who became possessed of much 
wealth. McBride was a President of the 
Friendly Sons of St. Patrick. 

In his "History of Chatauqua County, 
Young states that "Colonel James McMahon 
and Edward McHenry may with propriety 
be styled the pioneers of that county, as they 
were the first white men who purchased and 
settled with the intention of taking up a 
permanent residence there." McMahon set- 
tled near where the village of Westfield now 
stands, and the first dwelling of the white 
man was erected there by McHenry. Colonel 
McMahon commanded a regiment in the 
War of 1812. General John McMahon, 
brother of James, was also an early and 
conspicuous settler in Chatauqua, and among 
his countrymen are mentioned Cosgroves, 
Kennedys, Madks, Dunns and Kanes. One 
of the most noted pioneers of Chatauqua 
County was William Prendergast, a native 
of Kilkenny, who settled first in Dutchess 
County in 1746, and after some years lo- 
cated on the west shore of Chatauqua Lake. 
He brought up an Irish family, seven sons 
and six daughters. Two of his sons, Mar- 
tin and Mathew, became Judges of Niagara 
County ; another, James, founded the City 



of Jamestown; another became a physician, 
and another, William, commanded a regi- 
ment which fought in the War of 1812. 
Judge Matthew Prendergast's son was a 
surgeon in the same war and was a famous 
p'hysician in Erie County. 

John McCurdy, who emigrated from Ar- 
magh in 174s, was a merchant in the City 
of New York in 1747, from where he re- 
moved to Connecticut a few years later. The 
remarkable record of this Irish exile may 
well excite admiration and wonder. A man 
of exhaustless enterprise, patriot, philan- 
thropist and patrician, his name has gone 
down in history as one worthy of a place 
among the foremost Americans of his day. 
He became one of the wealthiest merchants 
and shipowners in New England, and was 
one of the first in his adopted State to throw 
in his lot with the patriots of the Revolu- 
tion. 

From the old New York newspapers, in 
which are recounted the annual meetings of 
Irishmen on the 17th of March, we get an 
idea of the Irish population of the city. In 
the Mercury of March 15, 1762, is found an 
announcement of a forthcoming St. Pat- 
rick's Day celebration by the Irish residents. 
The Gazette of March 20, 1766, and the 
Mercury of March 24, contain elaborate re- 
ports of a celebration on the previous 17th 
of March, at whidh some of the toasts were : 
"May the enemies of America be branded 
with infamy and disdain;" "Success to the 
Sons of Liberty," "Success to American 
manufactures ;" "The day, and prosperity to 
Ire'land," and several other toasts along 
those lines. The toasts wound up with one 
in this peculiar vein and phraseology: "May 
the enemies of Ireland never eat the bread 
or drink the whiskey of it, but be tormented 
with itching without the benefit of scratch- 
ing." 

The originator of the great canal system 
of our State was Christopher CoIIes, an 
Irishman, who came to New York in 1772, 
and although his plans were rejected, yet 
it is on record that they were afterwards 
used when the great project was success- 
fully carried out. 

The Gasette of March 14, 1768, announced 
a coming celebration by the "Order of St. 
Patrick." The Journal of March 30, 1769. 
contains an account of a dinner given by a 
society known as the "Friendly Brothers of 
St. Patrick." Between 1775 and 1783 there 



18 













CHRISTOPHER C.LLLS. 

The First Projector of Inland Navigation in the United States. 

Born in Ireland, 1738. Died in New York, 1816. 



is nothing on record indicating that St. 
Patrick's Day was observed in New York, 
but after the latter year the celebrations are 
seen to have continued year after year, but 
under a very different order of things. The 
first President of the Friendly Sons of St. 
Patrick was Daniel McCormick, who came 
from Ireland before the Revolution and who 
amassed a large fortune as a merchant in 
New York. 

The Gazette of March i6, 1775, contained 
an announcement that "to-morrow, being 
the anniversary of St. Patrick, tutelar Saint 
of Ireland, will be observed with the usual 
respect and attention by his generous sons 
and their descendants." In the same paper 
of March 22, 1779, appears a report of a 
parade on the previous St. Patrick's Day, by 
the "Volunteers of Ireland," under Lord 
Rawdon. This body was in the English ser- 
vice, however. It is not a rare thing to find 
Irishmen in the English army, but there is 
a reason for it, and this regiment, no doubt, 
although called "Volunteers," was recruited 
in Ireiand among the unfortunates who were 
driven to desperation and who were glad of 
any opportunity of obtaining the where- 
withal to keep them from nakedness and 
starvation. 

It is also probable that many of these so- 
called "Volunteers" were impressed into the 
service by the well-known methods in vogue 
in Ireland for generations past, for it is on 
record that many of the misnamed "Volun- 
teers of Ireland" deserted from the British ' 
ranks and joined the American patriots. 

These desertions were so very frequent 
that on July i, 1780, when the "Volunteers 
of Ireland" were in camp at Camden, N. J., 
Lord Rawdon, by direction of Cornwallis, 
wrote to a Major Rugely in this wise : "So 
many deserters from this army have passed 
with impunity through the districts which 
are under your direction that I must neces- 
sarily suspect the inhabitants to have con- 
nived at if not facilitated their escape. I 
will give the inhabitants ten guineas for 
the head of any deserter belonging to the 
Volunteers of Ireland, and five guineas only 
if they bring him in alive." The whole of 
this order will be found in Hartley's "Lite 
of General Marion." 

Among the Irish officers in the ranks of 
the New York patriots in the Revolution 
may be mentioned Colonel James McCleary. 
who is referred to in Hoosick's "Life of 
De Witt Clinton" as "one of the bravest 
officers America can boast of." General 
Richard Montgomery, one of the four Briga- 
diers appointed by the first Congress, and 
the first of the four to die in the cause of 



our glorious country ; Gen. Edward Hand, 
who commanded the Pennsylvania Line, dis- 
tinguished himself in New York. So did 
Colonel Robert Cochran,, who commanded a 
detachment of militia at Fort Edward at 
the time of Burgoyne's surrender. Captain 
Robert McKean, the defender of Cherry Val- 
ley. The story of his brave defense of 
Curry town on July 9, 1781, against the In- 
dians and loyalists reads like a chapter from 
the career of the "Spartan Band." 

The commanders of the forlorn hope in 
the memorable attack on the British works 
at Stony Point on July 17, 1779, were Major 
Murfey and Lieutenant Gibbons, Lieutenant- 
Colonel Percival Butler was Morgan's sec- 
ond in command at the battle of Saratoga, 
and this list of Irish soldiers would certain- 
ly be incomplete without some mention of 
Timothy Murphy, of Schoharie, who covered 
himself with glory at Bemis Heights. Mur- 
phy belonged to Morgan's celebrated Rifle 
Corps, and proved himself one of the most 
fearless and intrepid soldiers of that band 
of heroes. 

In the "(Narrative of the Captivity of 
Ethan Allen," the redoubtable hero of Ticon- 
deroga pays tribute to the Irish soldiers who 
fought under him in the Canadian campaign 
of 1775, and mentions some thrilling inci- 
dents where his life was saved by the timely 
interference of Irishmen. 

Many of the officers of the New York 
regiments bore Irish names, and the muster 
rolls of the various regiments, notably those 
of Colonels Malcom, Willett and the Third 
Regiment of the Line, show large numbers 
of Irishmen. 

But the list seems almost interminable. I 
could go on at much greater length and dwell 
unon Irishmen and their descendants who 
pdded to the lustre of the Empire State, but 
I do not wish to trespass upon your patience. 

Kept in subjection in his native country 
under the centuried goad of an alien gov- 
ernment, the Irishman has proved beyond 
peradventure of a doubt his unqualified suc- 
cess in other lands. Give him a fair field 
with the air of freedom filling his lungs, and 
you may be sure that he will give a good 
account of himself. What I have stated 
here to-day is a series of historical facts 
gathered from the most unimpeachable au- 
thorities after many months of research, 
without resorting to any flowers of rhetoric 
in setting these facts forth. 

If I have interested the New York State 
Historical Association in the lives and times 
of some of these forgotten Irishmen, then 
I shall be assured that my labors have not 
been in vain. 



20 



